Shanghai Composite dropped with 1.8% pressed by the property market

The leading Asian stock exchanges finished the trading on the first day of the week with medium decreases. The strongest decline recorded the Chinese index Shanghai Composite, which retreated despite positive economic data from the country. The Chinese blue-chip index fell by 1.76% to a value of 2,076.69 points after the new homes price growth in January slowed, which is a signal of some stabilization in the property market. The average price of the new homes in the largest 70 Chinese cities rose with 9.6% in January on annual base. A month earlier the growth reached reach 9.9% compared to an year earlier. The lowering of the new homes price growth was the first in the last 14 months, which is a sign that the government’s plan to curb the risk property sector may have finally given result. Among the biggest losers were Poly Real Estate and China Merchants Property, whose capitalization has tumbled by over 8%, while in Gemdale the decrease reached 7%.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 lost 0.19% to value of 14,837.68 points after the appreciation of the JPY to a level of 102.3 per USD. The shares of the online retailer Rakuten rose nearly 3%. The capitalization of Sony expanded with 0.5% after the news that the company’s game console Playstation 4 has attracted great interest over the weekend.

In Sydney the Australian benchmark S&P ASX 200 achieved minimal growth of 0.03% to 5,440.22 points. Thus the session became the seventh consecutive growth for the benchmark. The performance of the mining company Boart Longyear impressed, as its shares fell with 15%. The decline came after reporting the loss for the entire 2013. Most of the other major mining companies have also reported decreases in their market capitalization. The Rio Tinto decrease amounted to 1%, while Fortescue Metal and Whitehaven Coal lost 0.6%.

After touching a near one-month high of 1,957 points at the end of last week, the South Korean shares retreated in negative territory on Monday. The local benchmark KOSPI declined with 0.45% to 1,949.05 points, led by a sharp drop of more than 15% of the technology company Chungho ComNet.